Soldier who blew up Tesla at Trump hotel left notes saying explosion should be 'wake up call'
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A soldier who blew up a Tesla Cybertruck outside a Trump hotel in Las Vegas left notes saying the New Year's Day explosion was a stunt to serve as a "wake-up call" for the country's ills, investigators have said. Matthew Livelsberger, 37, also wrote in notes left on his phone that he needed to "cleanse" his mind "of the brothers I've lost and relieve myself of the burden of the lives I took".
Livelsberger, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, shot himself before the explosion. He had served in the Army since 2006 and was deployed twice to Afghanistan. He wrote in one letter: "This was not a terrorist attack, it was a wake-up call. Americans only pay attention to spectacles and violence. What better way to get my point across than a stunt with fireworks and explosives.".
The letters covered a range of topics including political grievances, societal problems and both domestic and international issues, including the war in Ukraine. He said in one letter that the US was "terminally ill and headed toward collapse". Investigators are still trying to determine whether Livelsberger sought to make a political point with the Tesla and the hotel bearing president-elect Donald Trump's name.
Judge orders Donald Trump to be sentenced in hush money case - but signals he won't be jailed. New Orleans and Vegas attacks explained. Man who died in Tesla in Las Vegas 'suffered gunshot wound' before explosion. But officials said Livelsberger appeared to harbour no ill will toward Mr Trump, with the soldier writing in one of the notes that the country needed to "rally around" the president-elect and Tesla chief executive and Trump adviser Elon Musk.
